Ben Carson, the former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and 2016 GOP presidential candidate, spoke to a packed room of conservatives on the campus of Michigan State University Wednesday night.
Up until the very end, Carson's speech was driving home typical conservative rhetoric, hitting on topics such as abortion and faith in the United States. When asked if he believed people, like those in the Revolutionary War, would have to give up their lives to defeat the people currently in power, Carson answered "we may have to."
"The way I look at it, any inconvenience that you go through right now is a drop in the bucket against the backdrop of eternity," Carson said.
The crowd responded with thunderous applause and a resounding "amen."
His appearance, which took place at Wells Hall, was hosted by the MSU chapter of Turning Point USA, a right-wing political organization that focuses on spreading conservative values on college campuses.
During his hour-long speech, Carson spoke about his journey from a struggling young student to pioneering neurosurgeon, culminating in him being named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Donald Trump’s administration. Carson also touched on today’s politics, delivering a speech littered with common conservative platitudes and tropes.
About 10 minutes into his speech, while Carson was delivering a criticism of abortion, a member of the audience stood up and demanded Carson elaborates on why he was not standing up for the "babies being killed by Israel." The protestor’s questions were ignored and he was soon removed from the room.
Throughout his speech, Carson made frequent references to the importance of upholding Judeo-Christian values in an increasingly agnostic nation. In his eyes, the problems that plague America today such as abortion, "sexual perversion" and the denigration of the American family, can be traced back to America’s falling out with faith.
While discussing abortion, Carson provided a romanticized view of America’s past, envisioning a small-town America where common good prevailed and, for example, a community would help an injured farmer tend to his crops. Thanks to abortion, which Carson views as a lack of respect for life, America has strayed away from the common good and suffered as a result of it.
"As we’ve gotten away from that respect for life, look at what’s happened to our respect for each other," Carson said. "We need to think about these things."
Carson’s speech reached an extreme when he told the crowd plainly, "we have a fight on our hands," and asked the audience to recognize the 45 "Current Communist Goals" spoken into the congressional record by Florida congressman Syd Herlong in 1963.
Carson said that these goals, which include "presenting homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as 'normal, natural and healthy'," as well as spreading communist propaganda in schools, are all happening in today’s America.
"You’ll recognize all them as things that are happening now," Carson said, referencing Herlong’s list. "Because we, the American people, are being manipulated."
The only way that America can avoid becoming a communist, godless country, Carson said, is if everyday Americans are willing to stand up for what is right. Drawing comparisons to the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, Carson said Americans must find the courage to stand up to intimidation from the media and those who wish to cancel dissenters.
"They overwhelmed the axis forces, knowing that in many cases they would never see their loved ones or their hometown ever again," Carson said. "Why did they do that? … They did it for you and for me, so that we could live in peace and freedom. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s our time to do it for those who are coming after us."
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